Portugal:
‘More than a million sang the Grândola’
4 March 2013 PresseuropDiário de Notícias

More than 1m people from 40 cities throughout Portugal took to the streets on March 2 in a series of demonstrations organised by the non-partisan movement known as Que se lixe a troika (Fuck the troika). Organisers say around 800,000 marched in Lisbon alone.

Ireland rushed into the arms of the Troika due to the well known FUD factor. Back in the day the IBM IBM sales people made heavy use of the FUD factor with their less than knowledgeable clients. Fear, uncertainty and doubt. No threats or intimidation needed just reel the suckers in.

Too much is being made of brutal, harsh, high pressure tactics. If one listened to what the Civil Servants were saying amongst themselves at the time it was obvious that the Gov’t was in a state of panic. Cowen on TV was like a rabbit in the headlights. The CS would not be paid and all pensions would go down the drain if the banks were not rescued was the word coming out of Kildare Street.

We did whatever was done to ourselves. Books will be written and in the fullness of time some of the truth will surface. This being Ireland it will take years.

Really! I provided an FYI … simply an FYI … yet you continue to read your own interpretations into these …. childish.

Worth noting that Portugal has led the way on extending maturity of EU sectioin of the ‘banking bail out’ loans – and some movement apparently from EU this with Minister ‘Giggler’ Bruton claiming all the .. er .. credit for Minister Noonan … Ireland was first mover only once: on the LUNATIC bank guarantee.

Betrtie Wall – United Farmers Association – notes that 80% of CAP to Ireland goes to 18% of IFA farrmers – and Minister Coveney wishes to keep this inequitous diffy of the funds. I’m surprised there isn’t more on this – but noone answers me Gini questions these days – maybe they are Rhetorical Questions.

Alan Matthews? Any views on this?

@ Tull

Biddy claims to have spotted you on your knees in front of Mick PD McDowell in a hostelry in Kingstown recently – let’s ignore the obvious interpretation – and assume that you were pitiching for a real job in the upcoming NeuPD Party with the same ideology that wrecked the state.

p.s Biddy reckons that you looked absolutely cute and lovely in your royal blue. Looks like you made an impression on Biddy – whatever about Mick!

@tull
Suppose David McWilliams told Herod and Comrade Gilmore in 1998-1999-2000-2001-2002-2003-2004-2005-2006-2007-2008,that there was a massive property bubble in Ireland, but the auctioneers responded by stating categorically that the market fundamentals were excellent. Who would Herod and Comrade Gilmore believe?

Suppose Colm McCarthy told Herod and Comrade Gilmore in 2009-2010-2011-2012-2013 that upward-only rent reviews in existing commercial leases should be removed to allow market clearing commercial rents,prevent a damaging two-tier rental market,retain jobs, and allow the commercial property market to function, but the auctioneers said no you cannot interfere with the market otherwise there will be armageddon,another Zimbabwee and you cannot allow these chancers market rents. Who would Herod and Comrade Gilmore believe?.

That Swiss Minder Initiative vote was amazing. Economiesuisse, the Swiss IBEC, ran a scaremongering campaign that involved plastering the country with posters threatening rack and ruin if the vote was passed. They only got 32%. The ordinary bucks are sick of UBS.

A lot of people in their 60s and above lost money quaisi AIB style on “bluechip” UBS shares and their wrath was mighty.

“The IMF (2013) has recently demonstrated that fiscal multipliers are higher than previously estimated and, with austerity policies in place, this means, ceteris paribus, that the current contraction will be deeper than previously anticipated. De Grauwe and Ji (2013) [the focus of earlier thread] have also fairly convincingly shown with simple cross-country comparisons that the stronger the austerity policies are, the greater is the related economic contraction. They also demonstrate that the stronger the austerity policies, the greater is the related increase in public debt burdens. These are important and compelling results.” Richard Wood